


The First Puzzle Piece

by kakashisimp7



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Elementary School, Friendship, Gen, Itachiyama, havent stopped thinking about them since 394, i love them, suffering from sakusa brain rot, what is a libero, wholesome sakusa and komori friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24707308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kakashisimp7/pseuds/kakashisimp7
Summary: Completely unbeknownst to him, meeting Komori Motoya is going to change Sakusa Kiyoomi’s life in every way imaginable.
Relationships: Komori Motoya & Sakusa Kiyoomi
Comments: 14
Kudos: 63





	The First Puzzle Piece

Sakusa Kiyoomi exists in a small bubble, which is exactly how he likes it. The more activities one partakes in, the larger the risk of getting dirty, which is something Sakusa likes to avoid at all cost. He goes to elementary school, comes home, studies, eats, bathes, and goes to sleep. His routine is straightforward and easy enough to do on his own; his parents, who own their own business, are often too busy to regularly spend time with him. He has one older sister who still lives at home and helps him with making food occasionally, but she’s often busy with her own studies and part-time job. His older brother moved out years ago and only stops by the house for holidays. Time tends to pass swiftly and uneventfully.

This lifestyle doesn’t bother Sakusa in the least and he would’ve been content to continue this way for a long time, until the day he comes home from school to find his parents sitting in the living room with his aunt and uncle, who live close-by but not close enough to see them very frequently. He tries to escape to his room as quickly as possible to wash his hands before he has to touch anything his aunt and uncle may have inadvertently gotten dirty, but his mom catches his fleeting gaze and her eyes tell Sakusa that this get-together has mandatory attendance. 

He sets down his backpack and slinks into the room, shoving his hands into his pockets. He has no idea what to make of the situation in front of him. Did someone die? 

“Kiyoomi,” his mom says, after an elongated pause that hinted she wasn’t exactly sure how to proceed, “We’ve started to think that you spend a little too much time alone. It’s our fault for being too busy, but I don’t want you to be lonely-” _I’m not lonely_ , Sakusa tries to tell her telepathically- “so we want you to start spending time with Motoya.”

Sakusa is terrible at thinking on the spot. “My cousin Motoya?”

“Yes,” his mom smiles at him, “Komori Motoya. He goes to the same school as you, just in a different class.” This is news to Sakusa. His elementary school is relatively small, and even though he’s never met Komori, he at least knows what he looks like and he’s fairly confident he’s never recognized him at school. “You can walk home from school together and spend time together after school.” She beams at Sakusa as if this is the best decision that anyone has ever made. It’s not.

His aunt smiles. “Motoya plays sports, and is especially into volleyball. Maybe he can show you the ropes!” 

Not that Sakusa has anything against sports, but the idea of spending time with other people in a dirty gym, wearing a dirty uniform, and touching a ball that other people are not just touching as well but _sweating_ on? Horrifying. He does not want to be shown the ropes of anything, much less volleyball. However, he’s being put on the spot, and while his parents aren’t totalitarian, resistance will not be met with understanding. 

“That’s….fine,” he says dejectedly enough so that his mom knows he’s just going along with this grand scheme for the sake of it, not because he’s happy about it. All the adults smile at him in a way that probably isn’t intended to be condescending, but rubs him the wrong way nonetheless. Sakusa tightly curls his fingers into his palms and gives his mother a pointed look. The expression on her face relaxes a bit. “That was all I wanted to tell you. You can go now.”

 _Volleyball?_ Sakusa finds his mind wandering to the earlier conversation with his parents as he washes away the filth from the day in the bath. He’s never tried sports of any kind; no one in his family is athletically inclined in the faintest, so it’s not something Sakusa has ever thought about pursuing. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst idea to try an extracurricular, but does it have to be a team sport? 

He continues to think about it as he sits at his desk to work on his puzzle for a bit. It’s a 1,000 piece puzzle depicting a beautiful underwater fantasy world that Sakusa has been chipping away at for a few days. He’s a completionist who loves the satisfaction of snapping the very last piece of the puzzle into place. Everyone else in his family is too busy to ever assist him so he doesn’t have to worry about anyone else’s germs or dirt getting all over the blue, purple, red, and green multicolor pieces. He tackles puzzles of various sizes, but he’s never left one unfinished, even if it’s a mostly monochrome one that’s painstakingly tedious to complete. Tonight’s work is a temporary relief from the Komori situation facing him, but the pervasive thoughts follow him to bed, dancing around in his mind as he crawls under the covers. _I wonder if Komori will approach me at school, or if I’ll have to go find him,_ Sakusa ponders as he slips into sleep. 

Completely unbeknownst to him, meeting Komori Motoya is going to change Sakusa’s life in every way imaginable. 

* * *

At school the next morning, an unfamiliar face pops around the corner of the shoe lockers as Sakusa carefully stows his outdoor shoes. “Are you Sakusa?” His voice is high-pitched and upbeat.

It’s a question, but the words come so confidently from the boy’s mouth that Sakusa is acutely aware he already knows the answer. Certainly this is... 

“Hi! I’m Komori! Komori Motoya! We’re going to walk home from school together and we can play after that if you want! Nice to meet you!” The exuberance coming off of him is palpable. Sakusa hates this immediately. 

...Komori Motoya, in the flesh. _You look like your parents_ , Sakusa thinks to himself.

“Sakusa,” he replies assertively, “Sakusa Kiyoomi.” 

Komori’s eyes hold more enthusiasm than Sakusa has possibly ever felt in his entire life, and he feels strangely uneasy. He has no idea how anyone deals with people like this. His immediate family is even-tempered and stoic, and he hasn’t made any acquaintances in school, so there’s no precedent for dealing with loud and exuberant people. He has to think fast.

“We can meet here again after school is over and walk home from there,” he says coolly. He wants to be the one in charge here, so Komori can’t suggest anything insane. “Is that-” 

“You should come to volleyball practice with me!” Komori replies, as if everything Sakusa had just said went in one ear and out the other. 

“...volleyball practice?” 

“I just play with other kids! We’re practicing for when we join a real team in middle school! We’re all still learning about the different positions, but my favorite so far is libero!” _What is a libero?_ Komori looks even more excited than he did at the beginning of the conversation. Sakusa grimaces. 

“Come here again when school is over, and we can walk home,” he repeats in the most deadpan voice he can muster. Komori nods, but the grin on his face persists. “And I’m not going to watch you play volleyball,” Sakusa throws in bitterly before turning to walk away to class.

* * *

Yet here he is, six hours later, sitting on the cold and definitely germ-infested floor of an old gymnasium, watching Komori and a handful of other kids throw a volleyball around. A coach who looks no older than his sister guides the kids through drills where they pass the ball back and forth to each other. Their movements look timid and uncoordinated to Sakusa. Some of the kids toss the ball up in the air, while others jump up and hit it down on the other side of the net. The smacking sound as the ball hits the floor is strangely satisfying. The kids grin and high-five each other. _I could do that._

Sakusa feels heat rush to his face as soon as the thought hits him. Wait, what? Why is suddenly he thinking about playing? This is not something he’s interested in. It’s a sport. Dirty. He pulls his knees to his chest and hides his face. 

As the hour starts to come to a close, the practice coach hands out red and black mesh tops and the kids evenly distribute themselves on opposite sides of the volleyball court. Komori positions himself at the back of the court, for reasons unbeknownst to Sakusa. His eyes are completely fixed on the ball, even though the coach is still holding it while talking to the kids. This is the calmest Sakusa has seen Komori all day. The worn-out gymnasium is small enough for Sakusa to hear the conversation; they’re apparently going to play a practice game. 

A kid who’s a little taller than the others deftly serves the ball over the net as the game begins. Hardly aware of his own actions, Sakusa watches the ball go back and forth with strange intensity. The ball goes out of bounds or straight into the net just as frequently as it makes it over, but neither team ever loses focus. It’s clear to Sakusa that both sides are playing to win. He feels his face getting hot again. He suddenly realizes that he wants to be on the court. He wants to know how it feels to drive the ball into the opposing team’s court, and score a point. He starts to wonder if he can trick Komori into teaching him how to play without seeming interested in it.

The game goes on for about 20 minutes before the coach declares Komori’s team the winners. They all start yelling excitedly and high-five each other; Komori’s grinning from ear to ear. “Your receives are so great, Komori!” one of his teammates says proudly, “You’re definitely going to be an amazing libero.” Sakusa makes a mental note to look up what a libero is on his mom’s laptop when he gets home.

Sakusa and Komori leave the gym together and start walking in silence. It’s not that awkward, which is good because Sakusa’s mind is running at 500 miles an hour between processing everything he just watched and wondering how he can coerce Komori into teaching him how to play. 

“I-”

“Do you want to learn how to play?” Komori suddenly interrupts. “I’m not the most experienced, but I can teach you the rules and the basics about each position.” His gaze is so intense that Sakusa puts one foot back to steady himself. 

“You’re going to go to Dosho Middle School too, right?” Komori continues as they start to walk again. “Their team is really good, and I want to be good too. They even compete at tournaments outside of Tokyo. They go all the way to Sendai sometimes.” 

Sakusa bites his lip. Admitting that he wants to learn how to play volleyball would be letting Komori win. He wants to say that he doesn’t care about it and he’s not interested… but he can’t. He’s still thinking about the feeling that stirred in his stomach when he watched the kids scoring points at the practice game. He wants to know how that feels more than anything.

“What’s the position that gets to hit the ball across the net?” he finally asks. 

Sakusa stops and stiffens immediately. He wants to take back his question and tell Komori that he has no interest in playing, but his cousin starts talking before he can get a chance. “Wing spiker! Wing spikers score points for the team.” His voice starts to get more animated. “Being a wing spiker is so cool! I watch videos of professional games on YouTube and you wouldn’t believe how crazy the crowd goes when the ace gets in a good hit. Oh, the ace is the person on the team who scores the most points. The ace is usually a wing spiker! You could definitely score a lot of points!” 

Komori is giving Sakusa that stupid grin again. “Come back to my house with me. I’ll teach you how to pass the ball and give you an overview of the different positions. That way, you’ll be prepared to go to practice with me tomorrow.” They start walking again. _Wait, practice? Tomorrow?_

“You want me to go to that practice with you?” Sakusa asks evenly, despite how harrowed he feels internally. 

Komori looks at him quizzically. “Well, yeah. How else are you supposed to learn how to be a wing spiker? That’s not my thing. I can’t teach it to you.” 

Sakusa buries his head in his hands. _I hate giving into you_. 

He looks up after a moment. “Do they wash and sanitize all of those mesh shirts in between practices?” 

Komori bursts out laughing. “You’re really weird, huh? Come on, we’re almost back to my house. I’ll show you how to pass the ball. I’ll even wipe it off first if you want.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written creatively in any way since 2009-2010, but I recently joined a lovely friend group that has a lot of writers in it, so I wanted to give it a try! 
> 
> I really, really adore Sakusa and Komori's friendship. Who would've thought that Komori was the one who got Sakusa into volleyball? 
> 
> Thanks to Nation and J for beta reading this and offering a lot of really helpful feedback! <3


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